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Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Direct Detection of the Acetate-forming Activity of the Enzyme Acetate Kinase
Published on: December 19, 2011
Visual and Plasmon Resonance Absorption Sensor for Adenosine Triphosphate Based on the High Affinity between
Wenjing Qi1,2, Zhongyuan Liu3, Wei Zhang4
1State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China. wenjingqi616@cqnu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Zr(IV) can form phosphate and Zr(IV) (-PO₃2--Zr4+-) complex owing to the high affinity between Zr(IV) with phosphate. Zr(IV) can induce the aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), while adenosine triphosphate(ATP) can prevent Zr(IV)-induced aggregation of AuNPs. Herein, a visual and plasmon resonance absorption (PRA)sensor for ATP have been developed using AuNPs based on the high affinity between Zr(IV)with ATP. AuNPs get aggregated in the presence of certain concentrations of Zr(IV). After the addition of ATP, ATP reacts with Zr(IV) and prevents AuNPs from aggregation, enabling the detection of ATP. Because of the fast interaction of ATP with Zr(IV), ATP can be detected with a detection limit of 0.5 μM within 2 min by the naked eye. Moreover, ATP can be detected by the PRA technique with higher sensitivity. The A520nm/A650nm values in PRA spectra increase linearly with the concentrations of ATP from 0.1 μM to 15 μM (r = 0.9945) with a detection limit of 28 nM. The proposed visual and PRA sensor exhibit good selectivity against adenosine, adenosine monophosphate, guanosine triphosphate, cytidine triphosphate and uridine triphosphate. The recoveries for the analysis of ATP in synthetic samples range from 95.3% to 102.0%. Therefore, the proposed novel sensor for ATP is promising for real-time or on-site detection of ATP.

